Foot protective guard



Sept. M, 1958 R. A. PHILLIPS FOOT PROTECTIVE GUARD Filed July 25, 1956INVENTOR. ROBERT A. PHILLIPS.

ATTOR N EYS United States Patent 2,851,798 7 roor PROTECTIVE GUARDRobert A. Phillips, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Safety First SupplyCompany, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania The presentinvention is directed to protective guards and more specifically toprotective guards for the feet of men working in and about heavymanufacturing plants such as steel mills and fabricating shops.

The need for equipment in the protection of feet of workmen in and aboutsteel mills and fabricating plants has long been recognized. One step inthis direction was the safety toe shoes having a steel insert forprotection of the toes of the wearer from falling objects. Thisprotection was limited to the toes only leaving the instep unprotected.Damage to the protective plate usually meant replacing the pair ofshoes.

Workmen in and about steel mills and foundries not only need protectionagainst falling heavy objects butalso protection against splashingmolten metal. Frequently, for this purpose, heavy leather shields wereprovided about the shins and feet of workmen in addition to theaforesaid safety shoes. This however did not provide the desired safetyand subsequently led to the provision of a reinforced metal shieldmounted over the toes and instep of each foot. Such protective deviceswere cumbersome and heavy. Falling objects indented the shields andimparted a major portion of the force of a blow to the shoe and foottherein. Molten metal falling upon the shield adhered thereto andimpaired the usefulness of the shield. Chains and other fastening meanswere cumbersome and if passed under the instep of the shoe were a hazardwhen the men trod upon metal plates or climbed ladders.

In the present invention the new and improved guard serves to deflectfalling objects and molten metal as well as to provide a shock absorbingpadding which both distributes the force of a blow over the entire areaof the guard and absorbs such blows preventing their transfer to thefoot of the wearer.

The shock absorbing feature of the present guard is provided by thecombination of a closed cell sponge material having embedded therein astiff metal plate which spreads the force of a blow over the entire areaof the sponge material.

One object of the invention is to provide a foot guard which is light inweight, and deflects falling objects or molten metal engaging therewith.

Another object of the invention is to pr vide a guard of the typedescribed which absorbs blows from falling objects and prevents theforce thereof from being transferred to the shoe and foot of the wearer.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel form of paddingbetween the foot of the wearer and the outer face of the guard whichdissipates the force of a blow thereon by distributing it oversubstantially the entire area of the guard.

These and other objects of the invention will be made apparent from thefollowing description of the invention, wherein the drawing forming apart thereof comprises:

Fig. 1 showing a view of the guard in place upon the foot and shoe of awearer;

Fig. 2 shows a plan view of the guard;

'Fig. 3 shows a side elevation of the guard; and

Fig. 4 shows a vertical section taken along line IV-1V of Fig. 2.

Referring now in detail to the drawing reference character 1 indicatesthe guard generally. The outer face of the guard is comprised of anarcuate member 2 extending longitudinally above the instep and toe ofthe wearer and transversely of the same surfaces. The member 2 ispreferably formed of a suitable thermoplastic material or may beof'relatively thin metal such as steel. Beneath the member 2 and spacingsame from the instep and toe of the shoe 3 is a composite shockabsorbing means comprising a member 4 of substantial thickness extendingsubstantially coextensively with member 2 and preferably formed of aclosed cell vinyl sponge which is commercially available. Beneath themember 4 and preferably terminating short of the periphery thereof is ametal member 5 of substantially the same contour of member 4. Beneathmember 5 is another member 6 preferably formed of a closed cell vinylsponge material substantially coextensive with member 4. The members 4,5 and 6 are adhered together by a suitable adhesive. Due to member 5being smaller than members 4 and 6, these latter members adjacent theirperiphery may overlap member 5 so as to conceal the member. It is to beunderstoodhowever that members 4, 5 and 6 may be of the samelineardimensions. The preferred form being to have member 5 smaller ashereinbefore described. The member 2 is preferably secured to theadjacent face of member 4 by adhesive between the entire adjacent facesof the members, other suitable means may be used. The portion of member6 overlying the toe of the shoe may be recessed as at 6a to betterconform to the contour of the toe.

The manner of attaching the guard to the foot and shoe of the weareralso forms an important part of the invention. The rigid metal guards ofthe prior art are usually provided with a metal member disposed beneaththe shoe of the wearer and attached to adjacent sides of the guard toimpart rigidity thereto. The guard is generally provided with additionalmeans, often of metal, attached to theankle or beneath the shoe toretain the guard in place. These latter means combining with the metalcross tie of the guard causes the wearer to present metal surfaces tothe floor, steel plates or ladder rungs over which he is moving. Suchmetal to metal contact frequently causes slippery footing resulting infalls.

In the present invention, the guard is held in place by a resilient andflexible strap 7 preferably formed by synthetic rubber which passesunder the instep of the wearer in front of the heel of the shoe. In thismanner the shoe of the wearer has the normal and usual contact with thesurface over which he is walking. This contributes to safety in normalwalking, as the strap 7 is usually disposed out of contact with theground. When climbing ladders, no slippery metal surfaces engage theladder rungs, thus adding safety of movement in such cases. In thosecases where the instep engages a ladder rung, the rubber forms ayielding non-slip surface.

The strap 7 may be secured to the member 2 in any suitable manner toform a loop. Under ordinary use the guard will outwear the strap so itis preferable to detachably connect the strap and guard by readilydetachable members. Such members are shown in Figs. 2 and 3 as snapfasteners 8, one part of which is attached to the strap and thecomplementary part to the member 2 as shown.

The maximum efliciency is obtained from the composite shock absorbingmeans supporting the arcuate member 2 upon the shoe of the wearer when aclosed cell type of resilient material is adhered to the opposite facesof the substantially rigid member 5. Such a con- The presently preferredform of the inventionhas been shown and described. It will be obvious tothose skilled in the art to which the invention pertains that manychanges may be made in the several members thereof without departingfrom the spirit of the invention. Thus, the member 2 may be made ofother materials than: Dias? tic, such as metal. A different material maybe substituted for the closed cell vinyl, such as open cell sponge.material but with loss of the effectiveness of the closed cell materialto absorb shock. The metal insert member 5 may be modified in size andmade of a different material used but present tests show that a metaland described is to be preferred.

I claim:

plate as shown 1. A detachable safety protector for the instep and toeof a shoe, comprising a first layer of downwardly curving. resilientmaterial supported on the instep and toe of the shoe and disposed inspaced relation to the sole of the shoe, a rigid member conforming tothe top surface'of said first layer and secured thereto, a second layerof resilient material conforming to the top surface of said rigid memberand secured thereto, an outer rigid member 4 conforming to the topsurface of said second layer of resilient material and secured thereto,and a strap secured to opposite sides of the outer member and passingbeneath the shoe for retaining the protector in engagement with saidinstep and toe of the shoe.

2. A detachable safety protector for the instep and toe of a shoe,comprising an inner integral convex laminated shock absorbing padsupported upon the instep and toe of the shoe and conforming to theupper surface thereof with the pad side portions in spaced relation tothe sole of the shoe, said pad having an inner layer of rigid materialand outer layers of closed cell cellular resilient material cemented toopposite faces of the rigid layer with the periphery of the pad free tomove relative to the shoe, an outer rigid member overlying and cementedto the outer face of the said pad, and a resilient strap having its endsconnected with opposite sides of said rigid outer member forming a loopwhich is passed beneath the hoe to-hold the saidpad into contact withthe instep and toe of a shoe-upon which the protector is mounted.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

